The American LaFrance Fire Engine Company was founded either in 1845 (as the 1923 logo at left suggests) or in 1823 (as stated in the "history" section of the American LaFrance web site). Either way, as the "LaFrance Manufacturing Company, it began builing hand-pumped fire engines some time during the first half of the 19th century.
In 1873, following the patenting of a rotary steam fire engine, it was re-named "LaFrance Steam Engine Company". In 1882 the company began producing an 85-foot "screw-driven" extension ladder truck (the "Hayes aerial") and three years later began manufacturing a new piston-driven steam fire engine.
The company was re-organized in 1903 and called the "American LaFrance Fire Engine Company. In 1910 it started production of its first gasoline-powered fire apparatus.
By 1923 the company could boast that its plant in Elmira, New York, covered 7 acres and that including its branch factory in Toronto, it employed 1200 people. In 1931 it introduced a 240 horsepower, 12 cylinder engine capable of pumping 1500 gallons of water per minute.
In 1995 American LaFrance was purchased by the Freightliner Corporation, and a
new 74,000 square foot plant was constructed in Cleveland, North Carolina.
